Monday stitching

I finished another Ornament yesterday, Joy to the World by Fancy Work.  This was my second attempt at stitching this ornament, for some reason I had trouble counting out the words correctly and the Smyrna cross stitches were not easy to rip out.  I spent the weekend working on the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll.  All of the over one tent stitch is beautiful.

I have finished 2 more ornaments from the Just Crossstitch Christmas Ornament issue.  La-D-Da's 'Tis Red and JBW Designs French Country Star.  My son helpfully pointed out that it is not Christmas yet but I enjoy working on small pieces.  I am thinking about scheduling a finishing weekend in July so that I will have finished ornaments by the holidays instead of a stack of small stitched pieces.

I have also been finishing some of the smaller pieces in my 15 starts in 15 days.  I finished Sam Sarah's Rise and Shine and almost finished The Trilogy's Winterology.  I ran out of Weeks Dye Works Whitewash and am waiting for my order to come in so I can finish the snowman.  I really like the vibrant colors in Rise and Shine, they show up very well against the dark linen.  Once I get a collection of small pieces finished, I am going to frame them.  If I use pre-made frames and get the mat board cut for me, I should be able to do the framing myself.  Then I will have seasonal and fun pieces to use to decorate throughout the year.

I have been watching a lot of movies and old TV series while I stitch.  I finished watching I Claudius, the BBC series that was shown on Masterpiece Theater in the 1970s.  Some of the movies have been gems including The Balad of Little Jo and Chop Shop.  

A New Year's finish and a start

 I spent this afternoon stitching and watching movies.  I finished this ornament while watching Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in The Adventures of Robin Hood.  The movie is a lot of fun but the costumes are horrible, the styles are not as bad as the colors and fabrics.  The bright, brash technicolor highlights the use of colors that could only be achieved using modern chemical dyes (or digital retouching of the original print) and the lavish use of lame makes every scene sparkle.   The ornament is Angels Sent by Susan Greening Davis from the 2010 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament Issue.  I used the suggested Gentle Art color on a greenish linen and had to cut out darker sections for the lettering.

I also decided to participate in the 15 starts in 15 days challenge.  I am not making any commitments to finishing these projects in 2011 but I plan to have fun getting them out and starting them.  The first one is the Ann Marsh Sewing Roll Kit but Joanne Harvey for The Exemplarery.  I have had my kit for 4 or 5 years and I have just never gotten started.  I started it today and completed all of the basting, which you can't see, and started the tent stitch outlines of the lower part of the outside of the needle roll.  I was able to watch American Dreamz and most of Funny Lady while I worked on it.